Roma people in Italy are facing the worst persecution since the Fascist era. We wish to confront the representatives of the Italian state which is behind this attack.

Government’s misinformation

The state’s lies encourage Italians to view Roma as illegal immigrants, as part of a generalized right-wing response to migration into Italy. Whilst we believe anyone should be able to settle wherever they want, it is important to point out the deliberate lies of the Italian government. Roma are not recent arrivals. Many have settled in Italy for 40 years and are Italian citizens. Those who have recently arrived have done so as part of the wider process of perfectly legal and natural economic migration within the EU. Some wish to travel, others wish to settle. They should have the same legal protection as other EU citizens.

Attacks on Roma Camps.

Instead, state misinformation has fuelled right-wing attacks on traveller camps. The attacks have been increasing since the election of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party in April 2008 and his appointment of Roberto Maroni, leader of the neo-fascist Northern League party, as his Minister of the Interior. On 11 May Maroni remarked that 'all Roma camps will have to be dismantled right away, and the inhabitants will be expelled or imprisoned.' Two days later a camp in Naples was set on fire by a gang of 60 racists. In other regions in particular, pogroms led to the destruction of Roma camps by fire on at least 8 occasions. Not only has this not been condemned by local politicians, it has been encouraged. Umberto Bossi of the Northern League remarked. 'People do what the state cannot’

Racist discrimination

As well as the attacks on camps, social prejudice that all travellers are criminals is being used to justify frightening new legal measures. Gianfranco Fini, leader of the neo-fascist National Alliance Party, in Berlosconi's Government, remarked in 2007 that Roma considered theft to be 'virtually legitimate and not immoral'. He also said that Roma men supported themselves through the prostitution of their wives and by forcing their children to beg.

An extraordinary number of new powers have been granted to national and local government to help attack Roma people. They resemble powers usually reserved for national emergencies in Italy. They allow the taking and storing of information on the identification of each person in traveller camps, for example photographs and fingerprints. The intention to fingerprint all Roma children systematically, for their 'safety' was also announced. This legislation has an explicitly racial basis and breaches various international guidelines. It allows authorities to identify and monitor Roma, as Italy's new Commissioner for Roma, Carlo Mosca, put it in June this year.

This attitude has become so 'normal' that even the Red Cross are helping the state gather data that is has no right to collect from Roma. Recently it allowed the racist Flavio Tosi to avoid conviction for racial discrimination. He won an appeal to the highest Italian court because, as the court put it, 'all Gypsies are thieves'. Tosi has since become mayor of Verona. In contrast, Roma are routinely beaten by police, accused and arrested for crimes without evidence. They are convicted in the public mind whatever the outcome in court.

Indifference

In this sort of atmosphere an incident took place that shocked Europe. When two Roma girls drowned on an Italian beach, holidaymakers continued sunbathing and picnicking as though nothing significant had taken place. This was next to the children's corpses, merely covered by a blanket, over which a third girl was weeping. So much for 'protecting' Roma Children.

Not all Italians are so indifferent of course, and many place the blame where it lies, with the state, the far-right and media. Activists are supporting Roma in practical ways in resisting this process, and are organising demonstrations like this to shame the state.

But it is not only Roma in Italy who face persecution and indifference. Organized attacks by both the state and vigilante groups take place all over Europe. For example, in the 1990s, 100,000 Roma were displaced from Kosovo. Many of them still live in poverty in Serbia. Roma and all travellers face discrimination and persecution here in Britain. Travellers in Essex are fighting eviction from land they own by Basildon council, who say the do not have proper planning permission. Contact them at  dale.farm@btinternet.com to support their resistance. Roma from Eastern Europe face discrimination and persecution from authorities and communities in the UK also. See the Roma Support Group website www.romasupportgroup.org.uk .

Please spread information about this situation and take action yourself.

This demonstration is supported by the Anarchist Federation, Campaign Against Immigration Controls, Jewish Socialists’ Group, London/Nottingham and Manchester No Borders, No One is Illegal